Other farmers' markets in Boulder and Broomfield counties opening soon

Boulder: Wednesday, Saturday markets now open

Longmont: Saturday market now open

Louisville: Opens June 1

Lafayette: Opens Sunday

Broomfield: Opens June 11

A farmers market in Erie is nothing new, but one that spreads its booths and tents across a full block of downtown is.

Starting this morning, the Erie Farmers' Market launches in a new location -- on Wells Street, between Briggs and Pierce streets -- leaving the parking lot at Briggs and Moffat streets it had occupied for four years.

"Moving into the streets of downtown should make a huge difference this year," owner Penny Peterson said. "At our old location, there was no real potential for growth."

And this year for the first time, the Erie Farmers' Market is teaming up with the Town of Erie to put on the weekly extravaganza, which will we operate Saturdays, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., until the end of September. Erie will not only provide barricades so that the one block of Wells Street can be closed off to vehicles, the town will help market the farmers market through social media, its website and its bi-monthly newsletter.

"The benefit to the town is that there continues to be an interest in making Historic Downtown Erie an attractive destination," said Fred Diehl, spokesman for the town. "It's a way of using different catalysts to re-energize downtown."

The market will open Saturday with about eight to 10 vendors, Erie Farmers' Market Manager Jen Ross said. The goal, she said, is to build that number up to about two dozen vendors by the end of the summer.

"It's a building year for us," said Ross, who last year ran the much larger Boulder Farmers' Market. "It's going to take some time and community support to build it."

Billed as the "other" farmers' market, the Erie event will feature crafts from local artisans and food and produce from east Boulder County farmers. There could be live music and a beer garden in the future.

Ross said Erie is distant enough from other Saturday morning farmers market hot spots -- like Boulder, Longmont and Louisville -- that there shouldn't be an oversaturation problem. Erie's market will likely appeal to a more hometown crowd, she said.

"None of us wants to cannibalize other markets," she said. "As much as we can do to support the local farmer, we try to talk to people so that the farmers can sell their wares at a better price."

Ross said one of the challenges early in the going could be the snowier than normal and colder than normal weather that hit the Front Range in April. Late frost episodes means things are coming up out of the ground more slowly, she said, but there's no denying the benefits of all the moisture during a spring that just a month ago looked bleak in terms of snowpack and reservoir levels.

"The moisture is something we needed," Ross said.

She, too, is convinced that the Erie Farmers' Market new location in the hustle and bustle of things will give it staying power.

"We feel like its new location makes it feel more spacious, like it's an event," Ross said.